February 12, 2024 www.cityofpaloalto.org
Reliability and
Resiliency Strategic
Plan Acceptance
City Council
1 Background
• 2022 Discussions w/ Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (S/CAP) Committee and Working Group
• Highlighted need for modernizing grid, enhancing capacity, reliability • Council Adoption of 2023-2025 S/CAP Work Plan (June 6, 2023) • Adopted with S/CAP on June 6, 2023
• Included Reliability and Resiliency Strategic Plan
• Guidelines for plan development included in Appendix D • December 6, 2023 UAC Recommendation
• February 3, 2024 Council S/CAP Ad Hoc Committee Review 1 Proposed Reliability & Resiliency Strategic Plan
• Strategy 1: Replace and modernize electric distribution infrastructure • Strategy 2: Implement operational practices to improve reliability and manage outages effectively
• Strategy 3: Integrate and ease adoption of flexible and efficient technologies and strategies
• Strategy 4: Evaluate the benefits of flexible and efficient technologies and strategies to the utility and community
• Strategy 5: Evaluate the resource needs for various demand reduction and resiliency programs
• Strategy 6: Implement any utility-driven programs identified in Strategy 5 that are chosen by the Council
1 Plan Benefits
• Reliability: Maintain and enhance reliability
• Modernization: Integrate new technologies
• Capacity: Increase capacity to for new electric loads • Resiliency: Explore ways the utility could help utility customers enhance their resiliency
• Reliability vs. Resiliency (for this presentation)
• Reliability = minimizing outages under normal conditions • Resiliency = managing the electric system impacts of a major event
1 Reliability & Resiliency – Perceptions and Reality
Perceptions:
• High profile outages likely affect some community members’ perceptions of utility reliability
• But community members in a recent survey rated Palo Alto highly in providing consistent and reliable electric service • But they wanted significantly better outage communication • And few people knew whether Palo Alto was prepared to handle a major emergency
1 Reliability & Resiliency – Perceptions and Reality
1 What Impacts Reliability
• Aging infrastructure is more likely to fail
• Key workforce vacancies mean:
• Less capacity to do maintenance
• Less experienced staff require more time, can make mistakes • Less ability to replace infrastructure
• Longer time to recover from outages
• In the Foothills – wind can lead to power safety shutoffs, storms can damage power lines
• Single transmission pathway – in rare cases (twice in 50+ years) air accidents have cut power to Palo Alto
1 Actions to Preserve and Enhance Reliability
• Replace aging infrastructure through grid modernization effort (Strategy 1, Action 1)
• More connectivity to minimize outage impact - can isolate outages in smaller area with switching (Strategy 1, Action 3) • Working on a second transmission line (Strategy 1, Action 4) • Foothills undergrounding (Strategy 1, Action 5)
• Workforce recruitment and retention (Strategy 2, Action 1) • Implementing Wildfire Mitigation Plan (Strategy 2, Action 2) • Improving outage communications (Strategy 2, Action 3) 1 Modernization
• New technologies both benefit and impact the grid
• Distributed technologies like solar, storage, vehicle to grid / home, flexible loads
• Grid automation (smart meters, switches, etc.)
• Distributed technologies can cause issues on grid not designed for them – voltage issues, reverse flow
• Grid upgrades needed to integrate them
• Can provide benefits if operated the right way
• Strategy 3 addresses these efforts
1 Electric System Capacity for Electrification
• As vehicles and buildings electrify, more electric distribution system capacity will be needed (transformers, feeders)
• The grid modernization effort (Strategy 1, Action 2) is the main way we are increasing capacity
• But can capacity be used more efficiently?
• Could allow for more electrification using existing capacity • Could reduce some costs for grid modernization
• Strategies 4 and 5 explore whether some flexible technologies and efficient electrification strategies could help
1 Resiliency
• As we rely more on the electric system some residents and businesses want backup power to minimize impact of outages • Major events like earthquakes also a concern
• Traditionally utility has not taken a role in backup power • However, some distributed technologies can provide resiliency benefits in addition to utility benefits
• Strategies 4 and 5 explore the costs, benefits, and resource needs of utility programs to promote these technologies • Goal would be to realize both utility and community benefits 1 Grid Modernization Costs (Very Preliminary)
• Requires about $14M to $15M per year in debt service by 2030 • Comparable to current levels of annual capital investment • Supports up to $300M in up-front investments
• An estimated 50% to 60% of this represents replacement of aging infrastructure – investments we would make anyway • The remainder represents modernization to improve reliability and new capacity for electrification
1 Recommendation
Staff, the UAC, and the S/CAP Committee recommend the City Council Accept the Reliability and Resiliency Strategic Plan for the Electric Distribution Utility